Chapter 66 Star
The voice wasn't a sound. It was a vibration in my mind, a ghost of the Anchor bond.
Go.
I froze. I looked at Klaus’s face. His eyes were still closed, but the sapphire light seemed to flicker deep within the obsidian, a tiny, dying star.
Go, Little Fish. You are... the Voice. Tell them...
"No," I wept, clutching his hand. "I won't leave you to the taxidermist. I won't let the Emperor put you on a pedestal in his garden."
The sea... is my garden now, the ghost-voice whispered. Seal... the pod. Live.
The vibration faded. The sapphire light went dark.
"Mistress, please!" Rook grabbed my skirt, pulling me toward the far wall. "The hull is breaching! We have to go!"
I looked at the commandos. They were still frozen, staring at me with pleading eyes. I released the command, and they collapsed to the floor, gasping.
"Get out!" I roared at them. "Run!"
They didn't need to be told twice. They scrambled for the hatch, leaving their weapons behind.
I turned back to Klaus. I leaned down and kissed his obsidian lips. They were hard and cold, tasting of nothing but salt.
"I'll come back for you," I whispered. "I'll find a way to break the stone. I promise."
I turned and ran with Rook.
We found the tapestry in the corner, a heavy velvet hanging depicting the First Era. Behind it was a small, round hatch—the emergency escape pod. It was a sphere of reinforced glass and iron, designed for the Admiral to survive a catastrophic breach.
Rook scrambled inside, clutching the bag of secrets. I stepped in after him, my charcoal silk dripping on the small bench.
I looked back through the hatch one last time.
The resonance chamber was half-submerged now. Klaus’s obsidian figure stood in the center, the water swirling around his waist. He looked like a king standing at the edge of the world.
I pulled the lever.
The hatch slammed shut, the iron bolts hissing as they sealed us in.
The pod was ejected from the hull of the Obsidian Star.
The sensation was a violent, nauseating jerk that threw me against the glass. I watched as the ship—the massive, iron monster that had been my prison and my sanctuary—began to tilt. The black sails were shredded, dragging in the water.
Then, the Obsidian Star vanished.
It didn't sink; it imploded. The pressure of the deep trench combined with the resonance damage crushed the hull in a single, deafening sound. A massive bubble of air and debris erupted, and then... nothing.
The ocean was dark. The Gate was sealed.
And Klaus was gone.
The pod began to rise, the buoyancy tanks hissing as they struggled against the pressure. I pressed my face against the glass, staring down into the abyss. I looked for a spark of sapphire. I looked for a sign of life.
There was only the dark.
"Mistress?" Rook whispered from the shadows. "Where are we going?"
I sat back on the bench, my wet dress clinging to my skin. I reached into my bodice and pulled out the scrap of parchment—the one that had started it all.
Salt-Kiss.
I looked at the black lines that were no longer on my arms. I felt the clear air in my lungs.
I was free.
But the price of my freedom was the only man who had ever looked at the Siren and seen a girl worth saving.
"We're going to the North," I said. My voice was a bell, ringing in the small space of the pod. "We're going to find the Scribe."
"The Citadel?" Rook squeaked. "But the Emperor—"
"The Emperor thinks I'm a weapon," I said, looking at my hands. "He thinks he can use my voice to control his empire. He’s about to find out what happens when the Siren stops singing lullabies."
The pod broke the surface of the water with a violent splash.
I looked out at the horizon. The moon was high and cold, casting a silver path across the Sapphire Sea. Far in the distance, I could see the lights of the secondary fleet, their sails black against the stars. They were searching for a harvest that would never come.
I reached for the Midnight Conch earring, the sharp edge drawing a tiny bead of blood. I tasted the salt.
Klaus had anchored the world. He had taken the rot and the grief and turned himself into stone to keep the ocean from dying.
I was the Voice. And I was going to make sure the world heard him.
"Navigate, Rook," I commanded.
I leaned my head against the glass and watched the silver moon.
I didn't cry. My tears were pearls, and I was done giving jewels to the monsters.